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Introduction to Homesteading for Beginners

Welcome back, Danger Rangers! In this article we’re going to talk about homesteading, and luckily for all you knowledge starved folks, this article is a precursor to our complete Homesteading Series. Homesteading has quickly become a trend in America, with the help of social media, reality TV, and word of mouth, leading to a trickle migration of hipsters who want to be new age hippies, people that just got tired of the city life, and others who want to get off the grid. Whatever reasons you may have, you need to know something; America isn’t really free anymore, but there are still some liberty loving States where you can live off the grid, but within the law.

Believe it or not, there are many states where homesteading is practically illegal due to over-regulation, EPA (Environment Protection Agency) thuggery, and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) oppression. Fortunately, there are a few bastions of freedom left for us preparedness minded people, but liberty is not the only thing we based our judgments on. To give you guys the best option on your impending relocation we’ve summed up the most important elements to a successful homestead that includes;

wild game opportunities

minimum gun restrictions

support structures

low property taxes

cultural balance

minimal LE presence

nonexistent EPA & BLM

quality fertile soil

bountiful natural resources

climate severity

You know what really grinds my gears? Reading articles that assume less of your intelligence claiming the only deciding factor for selecting your homestead location solely relies on ‘legalities’ and nothing else! I’m sorry but homesteading is a very serious life decision to make, and shouldn’t be made lightly. It’s a big deal! This brings me to my next point…

Expectation vs Reality

Let me try to relate to the concept. With SERE, Marksmanship, Explosive, and Survival Training coupled with a decade’s worth of experience in preparedness, even I will have a tough time at first. I was raised in the Appalachian Mountains, hunting everything from squirrels to big bucks, and we fished what felt like every day of our lives. Throughout spring and summer a lot of my time was spent tending to Mom’s garden, she just so happened to have the tallest sunflowers in the state. Yup, this super-duper trooper was a bona fide redneck. Was being the keyword…

I haven’t been home in that manner for years! Nostalgia has never been an trustworthy feeling, and can trick you into a false sense of security. Every thing and every place changes with time. Hell, on a short visit to my hometown, a once sprawling community with real cowboys and farmers, I was completely sickened by how much it changed. What was once a respectable community of fine upstanding people turned into an opiate fueled Mecca and hub of welfare. In one day the innocent memories of my childhood were came crashing down by a bunch of shitty people. Nostalgia is a bold faced lie.

Social dynamics aside, the mere act of running your a homestead is far more complex than what most people expect. Creating a sustainable source of income, food, energy, water, and shelter requires you to be a jack of all trades, committing yourself to becoming an effective homesteader. All too often people tend to write checks their skills can’t cash, causing them to go in debt or worse, losing their homestead. Moral of the story, don’t lose yourself to an idea without committing yourself to it.

Risks vs Benefits

Before we move, ask yourself ‘Is it worth it to me to move to a homestead?’ weigh your personal variables, and above all else do not base your decision upon a cathartic but fleeting epiphany. Now that we’ve mushed past that brief disclaimer, let’s discuss the risk of homesteading, which includes but is not limited to…

demanding schedule

labor intensive

heavy reliance upon knowledge and experience

high initial cost to purchase in cash

equal outcome e. you get what you put in

To sum up; these risks do not even come close to the benefits of homesteads. Even then we should still discuss them. Tending to your livestock and crops is very demanding, and they set the schedule not you. Attempting to start a homestead without experience or knowledge is a risky endeavor because much of the tasks you’ll be performing are not as easy as you think. As for the initial cost, I believe in Dave Ramsey’s financial freedom principles, so if you’re going to purchase a homestead, pay in full. As for the equal outcome ‘risk’, it’s not so much a risk as much as it’s a warning. If you’re a lazy shill, you won’t do well on a homestead. You need to farm, hunt, and maintain your homestead. Slack off and you’ll lose everything you worked for. Once again, you’ve been warned! Now, let’s talk about the positives…

independent lifestyle

borderline wage free

self-sustaining food

doomsday preparedness

free from educational indoctrination

minimal monthly costs

all natural food supply

While these benefits aren’t comprehensive, you get the gist. Living on a homestead gives you the opportunity to be free of the 9-5 grind, where if you’re not working in some cramped office space, waiting on some rude folks that aren’t going to tip you, or staring blankly outside a drive thru window, you’re spending the weekend dreading Monday’s arrival. Being a homesteader severely decreases your monthly bills like water, power, food, child care, and certain types of insurance, allowing you the opportunity to work less. There is no better form of preparedness training than living on a homestead. After a couple years on the homestead and the apocalypse comes knocking, you’ll be more than ready. One of the greatest benefits in my opinion to operating a homestead is the chance to keep your kids out of the state’s ‘educational‘ system! I mean you got twelve-year-olds having sex in the bathroom, and nine-year-olds stabbing each other, while you have the progs indoctrinating your children to be little drones when they grow up. Working less means more time you can spend to educate your children! Lastly, if you’re a hippie, or just like eating well; almost everything you feed your family will be from your garden, livestock, or hunt. Yum!

Top five states for your homestead…

Now that we’ve set the stage, let’s talk about the best places for you to purchase your homestead. Lucky for everyone who reads this, unlike most people that write these types of articles; I’ve lived or spent a considerable amount of time in many states. As I said in the beginning of this article we are weighing several different variables when deciding the best states for your homestead…

Georgia

Stay as far away from Atlanta as you can and you’re good. I personally can’t stand Atlanta but the state of Georgia is incredibly beautiful with an ample supply of wild game like white tail deer, very pro second amendment, and ideal for homesteading. Downside of Georgia is their property taxes are higher than most at .94% and their land is a little pricey at $2,000 per acre (averagely), while being close to multiple large bodies of water including; Chattahoochee River, Savannah River, Suwannee River, Lake Sidney Lanier, Clark Hill Lake, West Point Lake and Lake Hartwell.

Vermont

Vermont has one of the most normal weather patterns compared to the rest of the states, while being a little on the cold side. This state has lots of extremely fertile land, and valuable timber. Additionally Guns & Ammo ranked Vermont as the 2nd best place for gun ownership in America! Downside is land will run you about $2,800 per acre (averagely) but if you state your intent to farm there are programs available, but that will open the door to government intrusion so be forewarned. Also, if you’re a big deer hunter, Vermont is not for you, but the state does have plenty of other wild game including; bear, moose, turkey, various small game, and a plethora of fish species. Lastly, the biggest downside to me is the state’s 1.5%+ tax rate, gross.

North Carolina

North Carolina is an awesome state for gun owners, and conservatives, but it’s got pros and cons like everywhere else. First, the education level of many residents is lower than what most of us are used to. No, that is not indicative of everyone, but with fatuousness comes aggression so be wary of those you call friends. Not to mention, the gun laws there suck. However, North Carolina has good soil, several bodies of water, and valuable timber. Again, deer hunting sucks in NC, but with access to the ocean and other great bodies of water you have an unending harvest source. The land is taxed around .98% and is very affordable.

Tennessee

My Pre K through Elementary years were spent in Clarksville, TN just outside of Fort Campbell, KY and of all the places I’ve lived, Tennessee has some of the most openly friendly people in the country. There are several bodies of water throughout the state, great soil for farming, low property tax rate of .75% and land averagely costs about a grand an acre. While the gun laws here suck, there’s plenty of wild game in rural areas, and excellent fishing!

Kentucky is the best place for Homesteading…

Kentucky, while it pains me to say it, is the absolute best place to own a homestead. Kentucky is very pro 2A, the LEOs are all low key and not out to mess with everyday people, the soil is excellent for farming, it is literally the best place to hunt several species of deer, there’s tons of small game, great fishing in its several bodies of water, massive timber resources, reasonable property taxes, and an almost nonexistent regulatory presence! The only downside to having your homestead in Kentucky is the people. I don’t believe in being pompous, or snooty, but in Kentucky, food stamp opiate munching welfare queens outweigh upstanding girls 99 to 1, and almost every guy there wants to be a ‘thug’. It’s definitely not the place I remember spending an important part of my life. Kentucky is slowly devolving into a human cesspool. K2, Flakka, Opiate addicts everywhere. Even with such a scolding review of the people, I plan to have my property purchased in full within the next eighteen months, because when it comes to homesteading, you can’t pick a better place. Stay away from Shelbyville, that place has gone right down the shitter.

In closing…

In this article we used simple statistics, public data, and first hand experiences to come to our conclusions, this article is not infallible or written in stone. Some people would be aghast that Texas isn’t listed, but the negatives outweighed the positives in my view (high property taxes, proximity to border, expensive land, in climate weather). Another example, Alaska isn’t even on this list. Why? Because you are reading this article, meaning you have little to no experience in homesteading, and Alaska is a very dangerous place to live if you don’t know what you’re doing. Wyoming, same thing; subzero winters, thin game opportunities, and an economy lurching towards the chopping block nixed them from the list. Just because I didn’t feel these states should be on the list doesn’t mean you shouldn’t move there if that’s where you want to be. Hell, you got green Google ‘geniuses‘ trying to run homesteads in the barren wastelands of Southern Nevada. Moral of the story, I’m sure you can make it work if you apply yourself.

This article is Part I of our Homesteading series, if you look forward to the next article feel free to subscribe and you’ll be alerted when Part II is published. Have a question, comment or suggestion? Leave it below!

About Administrator Ryan

Administrator Ryan has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Emergency Administration and Management from the University of Kentucky, and has been the primary handler for usCrow.org since it's founding.
Professional background includes over a decade's experience in survival and preparedness, graphic design, computer programming, website coding, and asset management. Personal background in mountaineering, climbing, rappelling, combat training, and big game hunting.

11 thoughts on “Introduction to Homesteading for Beginners”

I appreciate the purpose of your post, but the methodology of the parsing of the facts is suspect. Most states east of the Mississippi river are within a short radius of nuclear reactors. Though it isn’t that you can’t get far enough away in a lot of cases. Another point is that in many of the instances of “average” land prices, they aren’t for raw land AND they include large metropolitan areas “in the average” thus biasing the price to the higher end of the local range. To use your specific example of Texas, it does have higher land taxes, BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE AN INCOME TAX. The land prices outside of the MSAs are not nearly as high as the “overall average prices”! The average price of land in east/northeast Texas MINUS the DFW metroplex is in the low $2000/acre range. Well within reasonable range your self imposed budget. Texas is extremely gun friendly and outside of metro areas the LEOs are usually good people and the DPS (troopers) are of high quality and well trained. The majority of the state isn’t close to the border. All things taken in context, there are many more places conducive to “homesteading” than you give credit for. In context, rural Texas is gun friendly, the property is not expensive (in context), it is quality land and taxes, typically aren’t out of bounds and up to 50% of the state is reasonable for homesteading. The “inclement” weather is the exception, rather than the rule. Yes, it gets into the 100s in July and August, so does Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, etc. and yet crops, animals and homesteader survive there. They also don’t kowtow to the federal gooberment. I have been a “homesteader” for quite some time (pre Y2K), so I am familiar with it and currently strive for a “permaculture” style existence. Even at that it was an informative post for promoting discussion. Be Well.

Good question. But the bottom line has to do with statism. That means the government wants to be the Alpha and the Omega. Regulation is about control. Everyone must be made subject to federal regulations. That’s the end game. Children are indoctrinated in the public school system to be PC, etc. The older I get the more obvious it becomes. Homelessness and panhandling are difficult to curtail. The government can’t fine the indigent and jail time is a blessing to the homeless. But those in the system, these are the ones that can be intimidated with legal action, fines, even incarceration, if anyone bucks the system.

I’ve been homeless, but the only time I ever was a panhandler was after blowing my pay in places like Wrightstown, NJ, and needed a few bucks for a taxi to get back on base. But, yes, our beloved (gag me) federalistas do think they’re the Alpha of the pack, people who can barely understand how toilet paper works, let alone flush the idol of drunks. Yet, they’re experts are destroying lives to match the ruin of their own existence. God’s peace to you.

I currently live in Nevada so I wasn’t being prejudicial. Most of those states were nixed for property tax rates (Oregon 1.12%, Colorado 8.24% assessed value, Utah 1.07%) with the land having a higher cost with less natural resources (Utah for example), and then most Western states have a prominent EPA/BLM regulatory presence along with a few other things. Make sense?

Adding to that, if you live near federal lands, you’re watched constantly, often by well-meaning citizens. But, a friend’s father owns a small ranch in Colorado. It’s too cold for cattle, so he turned to guided hunts. He takes people in for a week on his place. He keeps the house and such in fair shape, and makes a killing because most want the head, not the hide or venison. He spends almost nothing doing this. The freezers are always full, and his mules fat from easy work. A lot of states are fighting illegal federal ownership of land, but if Hilda-Beast gets in, forget it. Too many like the idea of paying next to nothing in fees to lease the land, along with free fencing and so on. At least until she outlaws raising livestock.

He is. He hung onto the place after divorcing his pre-Vietnam wife. His post-Vietnam wife is also Metis (mixed-blood Native American) who’s very polite, very gentle, and understands what end of a baseball bat works best when he slips. He’s 70 now, and I wish I were in that good shape. They’re thru for a season, but getting things winterized on the ranch. Cowboy up! My youngest son, now 29, took off at last and is in Nevada, and sometimes Cali. I want him to go meet the old boy this winter when everything is settled in. BTW, we’re all suffering a disease called giggle-fits. It started election day night, after Hilda-Beast quit, but starts up again every time we hear of blacks and others demanding the right to be slaves to the jackass party again. Trump isn’t our first pick by a long shot, but we voted against the Beast. This is the first time the old women ever told us to vote for a neolib, but the Beast is a demoniac.